IIT Madras and Shell India Collaborate to Open Energy Research Center

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Energy Consortium and Shell India have joined forces to launch the 'Shell IITM Centre for Energy Research (SICER)'. The inauguration ceremony, held today (May 22, 2024) at the Shell Technology Centre in Bengaluru, signifies a major milestone in collaborative research and strategic partnership between academia and industry.

This collaboration, centralized under SICER for five years, will focus on promoting innovation, research, development, piloting, and commercialization of technologies in the energy sector.

The key anticipated outcomes include collaborative research addressing critical challenges and opportunities in the energy transition sector, incubation of energy start-ups by leveraging IIT Madras' start-up ecosystem, and the establishment of the Shell Chair Professorship to facilitate knowledge exchange between Shell and IIT Madras. Additionally, Shell's participation in the Energy Consortium will continue.

"We are proud to expand our partnership with IIT Madras with the launch of the Shell IITM Centre for Energy Research (SICER), demonstrating our commitment to promoting open innovation, research, and technology development across the wide spectrum of the energy transition. We have had several successful bilateral research and development (R&D) projects with IIT Madras in the past. This collaboration will further enable us to share our knowledge and resources with IITM while leveraging their expertise, R&D facilities, and innovation ecosystem to address one of the world's most critical challenges - the energy transition", said Dr Ajay Mehta, VP of Engineering Technology Shell highlighting the unique aspects of this partnership.

As part of the initiative, Dr Satyanarayanan Seshadri has been appointed as the inaugural Shell Chair Professor at IIT Madras. Dr. Seshadri, who leads the Energy Consortium and is a faculty member in the Department of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering at IIT Madras, brings extensive expertise to the role. His leadership will be pivotal in steering the research activities at the new centre and enhancing collaboration between academia and industry.

Speaking about this collaboration, Dr. Satyanarayanan Seshadri, Shell Chair Professor, IIT Madras, said, "As the Shell Chair Professor, I am honoured to lead the research efforts at SICER. Our mission is to unlock the full potential of our partnership by leveraging our shared interests in areas such as R&D and startup incubation, while also actively seeking out new opportunities for collaboration."

Further, Dr Nikhil Tambe, CEO, of the Energy Consortium-IIT Madras, said, "We are excited to announce the launch of the SICER, as well as the appointment of Dr. Seshadri as our inaugural Shell Chair Professor. This event represents a significant step forward and will galvanize our collaborative efforts in strategic areas of advanced energy research and innovation in close collaboration with Shell."

The launch of the Shell IITM Centre for Energy Research marks a significant step forward in the partnership between IIT Madras and Shell India. By combining their expertise and resources, they aim to drive innovation and tackle critical challenges in the energy transition sector. This collaboration promises to yield transformative advancements in energy research, fostering a brighter, more sustainable future.